Listen to narration by a local historian

Mitch Gruber

Assistant Researcher, City of Rochester

Temple B’rith Kodesh is the oldest Jewish congregation in Rochester. Founded in 1848, its 12 original members congregated in a room leased from a Baptist church on St. Paul Street.

Under the leadership of Rabbi Max Landsberg, B’rith Kodesh grew to over 250 members by 1894.

In obvious need of more spacious accommodations, B’rith Kodesh established a new home at the corner of Gibbs and Grove streets, in the Grove Place neighborhood. They built a large, ornate synagogue in Romanesque style. In tandem with this impressive new facility, Landsberg and his congregants made B’rith Kodesh one of the leading social and cultural institutions in Rochester in the early 20th century.

Landsberg was outspoken in his Progressive beliefs, supporting issues like social welfare and rights for new immigrants. He ensured that B’rith Kodesh was part of the local and national dialogue about these issues, hosting many events and inviting speakers to the new synagogue.

In 1901, for example, photographer and social reformer Jacob Riis delivered a talk at B’rith Kodesh. Events like this were often open to the public, because Landsberg wanted to develop relationships with Christian churches that held similar social views.

The Progressivism of Landsberg influenced his congregants and the entire city of Rochester. Inspired by their rabbi and the work of Jane Addams, two members of B’rith Kodesh, Theresa Katz and Fannie Garson, started the Baden Street Settlement House in 1901. They worked to provide cultural and practical education to young women of foreign birth.

Amid this era of growth for B’rith Kodesh, disaster struck. On April 13, 1909, Rochester experienced one of the biggest fires in its history. Starting at the Old Selden Building on East Main Street, the fire quickly spread down Gibbs Street and damaged roughly 70 properties in Grove Place, including B’rith Kodesh.

Both clergy and congregants wanted to stay in Grove Place after the fire. Their cultural and social importance in Rochester was linked to their beautiful, centrally located facility. In 1910, they rebuilt their synagogue — maintaining the same location and a similar architectural style.

The photograph here shows the building in the 1920s, when automobiles were becoming increasingly prevalent. The picture reveals a thriving, well-attended congregation, so busy, in fact, that an early traffic control device was required on Grove Street to handle the high volume of cars.

B’rith Kodesh continued to thrive downtown during the early part of the 20th century. Rabbi Philip Bernstein succeeded Landsberg and sustained the growth of the congregation, and the focus on social and cultural reform.

Demographics changed by the 1950s, however. Much of the Jewish community had already moved to the suburbs, a trend that only continued over time. B’rith Kodesh also prepared to move. They hired the famed architect Pietro Belluschi in 1958 to start work on the current temple, located on Elmwood Avenue in Brighton.

Just a few years after the move, the Romanesque building at the corner of Gibbs and Grove burned down again. This time, B’rith Kodesh was not there to rebuild.